notust mitt romney. the evidence is growing that republicans have a much bigr prlem onir han than any one candidate, even the candidate for the white house. instead, we're seeing a rejection the entire world view. your on your own philosophy that says, if you're downnour luck, en yre of ck. 'll be talking about it throughout the show tonight. but we start with a new poll out of ohio that is sending shockwaves across the republican party. the "new york times" poll shows the president now has teinlead in the buckeye state. ten points. ohioans are reacting against mitt romney's notorious cments about the 47%. the president drove that point home today. >> i don't believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims who never take responsibility for their own lives. and i've got to tell you, as i travel around ohio and as i look out on this crowd, i don't see a lot of victims. i see hardworking ohioans. that's what i see. >> it's not just voters in ohio responding to that message. the presidt has a nine-point lead in florida. and a 12-point lead in n

romney. no matter what we say now trying to figure this thing out, it's impossible to know what it will feel like when these two men meet, shake hands, and take their positions. the studio where we do "hardball" in washington was the sight of the second great debate between richard nixon and john f. kennedy. right before that debate the kennedy brothers arrived to discover something weird had happened. the temperature was meat locker level. so cold they couldn't believe it and they knew why. kennedy's television adviser went racing to the basement and found nixon's guy standing watch on the thermostat. nixon had sweated in that first debate and it cost him. this time the nixon people were intent on freezing the room so cold that nixon couldn't sweat at all. well, after a standoff in that basement in our headquarters and some threats to call the police, they agreed to bring the temperature up. well, think this stuff doesn't matter? it all matters. just like everything we do, wear, look like, act like, seem like in our first debates. actually our first dates when we were growing up, remem

chair, chris redford, on mitt romney's failure to dot the "i" in e bucke ste. >> it's not consistent with our polling, steve. >> the romney campaign has officially joined the poll truthers. tonight, we will debunk the republican alternate reality. >> there is a fundamental error going in the polling this ar by the mediorganization >> and there's more fallout from senator scott brown's race-baiting campaign. we'll have the latest from boston. >>> and the star of tv's "dirty jobs" gets his direst job yet. ikweas you know, well, he's a guy who has made a name for himself by doing things other pele don't want to do. really ugly, dirty jobs. like standing with a politician. >> i'll explain why mike rowe was standing on the wronstage th the wrong candida today >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. no republican candidate has ever lost ohio and won the presidency. mitt romney is on the verge of becoming yet anoth victim of this statistic. ohio's 18 electoral votes are vital to romnes chances of winning in nembe mitromney loses ohio, he's going to have to win all s

secret mt ro vithurd today. this one comes from his years running bain capital and mr. romney's language in the video, once againjust leaves you scratching your head. the same man who said corporions are peop who made al $10, bet with another candidate. the question is, just who is this guy? who wants to lead our nation. mother jones magazine obtained the video. it shows romney ba in 1985 ewedhe companies it was supposedly helping. >> bain capital is an investment partnership which was formed to invest in, startup companies and ongoing companies than to take an active hand in maning them and hopefully five toht yeto harvest them at a significant profit. >> harvest these companies for a profit. that was romney's goal in business. to harvest companies the way you harvest organs, the way you harvest crs. ave stalks behind.goo but we now know this is mitt romney's world view. the world view we only see behind closed doors when he thinks we're not stening. it's what we saw on that secret video where romney said, 47% of amansaw tels victims. today the obama campaign released a devasta

denver. the debates are starting. >>> tonight, the romney campaign e htf its own lies is actually sinking. because mitt romney got caught telling the truth about how he really fls about 47% of the american people. >> president obama and i both reut pandd class families. >> we have brand new polling out this morning. >> three new polls out today. >> three separate swing states. >> show voters trend ago way from him. >> barack obama is a little bit ahd athis me >> because the closer we get to the election, the dumber mitt romney appears to be getting. >> there's no question we've made a couple of mistakes. >> time that cruel cru mistress is slipping away. >> you may have noticed there's an election going on here in oh, i don't see a lot of victims. i see hard working ohioans. >> we can't afford four more years like the last four years. >> how many times can you visit the state of ohio before they get tired of seeinyou. trip. h9t >> if we win ohio, we'll win this election. >> if we win ohio, we win the election. >> governor romney has logged 17 trips. >> no republican in history has

romney campaign to the concept of arithmetic. this is "the ed show," let's get to work. >> president obamand i both care about poor and middle class families. the difference is, my policies will make things better for them. >> mitt romney is still trying to clean up s 47% problem and america isn't buying it. tonight, e.j. dionne on today' disastrous new poll numbers for republicans. an ohio democraticarty chair, ris dfor on ttne failure to dot the "i" in the buckeye state. >> it's not consistent with our polling, steve. >> the romney campaign has officially joined the poll truthers. tonight, we will debunk the republican alternate reality. heres ndtaro g n pog is year by the media organizations. >> and there's more fallout from senator scott brown's race-baiting campaign. we'll have the latest from boston. >>and e st o'srt jobs" gets his dirtiest job yet. >> mike rowe, as you know, well, he's a guy who has made a name for himself by doing things other people don't want to do. really ugly, dirty jobs. like standing with a politician. >>'lplwhkee waan oe g age with the wrong candidate

mitt romney means when he says he's harvesting companies. >>> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> and the guy who has no idea wh htag t i comes to women has the nerve to call senator claire mccaskill unladylike. we'll bring you the latest on the todd akin disaster. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thank for watching. wa kked f 20 eltion in january. today it was the first state where people could cast their votes in person for the general election. the race is on. the race has been tight in iowa, but president obama has the momentum. the latest ten-day poll avere frreleols"ws president obama with nearly a five-point lead. iowa voters were out in full force starting at 7:00 this morning. one election commissioner sa this could be a record-breaking year. this was by far the busiest opening day we've had in the ten yes i' beein oe. erin 1eoe. 100 would have been a good number. that's what it was four years ago. we're well past that. we'rnot to noon yet. >> look at the early voting numbers from 2008 to see how big a record

romney campaign is in now. but you can out-debate him. >> we go to kristen welker traveling with the president. we know that the president often has a pretty long day, long hours. news conferences. but how is the president trying to sharpen his message prior to wednesday? >> good morning, tom. i can tell you that's really one of the main goals of this debate camp here in nevada. the obama campaign trying to get the president to give shorter, sharper answers in part so that he can get all of this key points now. they say the president tends to be professorial sometimes. that's what they want to avoid. they want to give direct and crisp answers. also to avoid potentially looking condescending. that's one of the big things they're worried about here. so far president obama has had four mock debates with senator john kerry who is of course no stranger to presidential debates. he also i can tell you had one more practice session last night after president obama had a campaign event in las vegas. now, as you pointed out, both sides are really trying to tamper down expectations. lavishi

improve this nation. vote. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>> romney versus ryan, the divorce. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with mr. romney's divorce. why did he pick paul ryan for his running mate? certainly not for better or worse. mitt spends his days and nights acting as if he's out there all alone, that he never hooked up with ryan if the first place. i get it. romney doesn't want to get dragged down by his political mate's push for getting rid of medicare. he acts like ryan has no hold on him, but it's not the way it works. romney has slowly gotten the word that the voter out there thought the two had things worked out, that romney and ryan were in this thing together. well, they're not. romney is dying. he can't stand being tied to ryan, and all that budget cutting baggage of his. for his part, ryan is feeling the taint of having a running mate who is unwilling to stand with him, unwilling to be his kind of politician. a conviction politician. so trouble in paradise. mitt's dying to

romney, who struck a new tone on immigration during an interview with "the denver post" last night. romney told "the denver post," quote, the people who have received the special visa that the president put in place, which is aa two-year visa, should expect the visa would continue to be valid. i'm not going to take something they purchased. this is what governor romney said in june the day after the president issued the executive order. >> i think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution, because an executive order is a short-term matter. it can be reversed by subsequent presidents. >> not reversed if he becomes president. nbc's first read calls it a, quote, tale of two mitts, saying on the one hand you have romney saying in recent interviews he won't revoke the executive action on young, illegal immigrants. that he's the grandfather of obama care, and these elm pathetic because he got all massachusetts residents health insurance. on the other hand, one of us saw first hand all the conservative red meat he gave a rally in den

. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" countdown to denver. president obama and mitt romney prepare for their first debate. both sides trying to lower expectations. >> governor romney, he's a good debater. i'm just okay. >> president obama is a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. the man's been on the national stage for many years. he's an experienced debater. he's done these kinds of debates before. this is mitt's first time on this kind of a stage. >> flashpoint libya, the white house on the defensive after reports of both security and intelligence nurse in benghazi before that terror attack. >> standing up, sitting down. >> which ever one you like. >> there you go. >> do whatever they tell us. >> the white house line is you heard the president say, osama bin laden is dead, al qaeda is done, everything is fine in the middle east. this, obviously, contradicts -- ther series of events contradicts that campaign slogan. so, the fact is, that this was clearly an act of terror committed by people who were pretty well trained jihadists. >> more carnage in afghanistan. the taliban

. boidreut w n campaign ad, both featuring romney's 41% remarks. i want to get everybody up to speed. take a look. >> president obama and i both care about poor and middle-class families. the difference is my policies will make things bter for them. haneo are on n welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good paying job. >> when mitt romney dismissed 47% of americans for not pulling thr we, hettd millions of hard-working people making $25,000, $35,000, $45,000 a year. romney paid 14% on taxes in over $13 million in income. >>> ben, all along people say the road to pennsylvania avenue goes through oo a your campgn rortey sees this as game over. that is for mitt romney because of the new polling that's out today, putting president ahead by ten points. a lot of people, though, would say that those polls could be wrong and inflated. but what are you doing to make sure ohio stays as a strength let me be clear from the beginning. we're running like we're ten points behind. we don't have roseolored glasses on here. the reaction is there'

asquon and get any answer you want. >> the calendar is mitt romney oez nemesis. >> we are running out of time. >> people don't trust him. >> h does he turn thishi ar? >> mitt romney has campaigned as many things this election cycle. >> a severely conservati republican governor. >> morning ya'l. han pel. >> i repeal obamacare. >> don't forget, i got everyone in my state insured. >> 100% of kids in my state are insured. >> 40 days to election. >> and he's using this as a badge onor. >>his guy is like a bohe >> did the republicans nominate the wrong guy? >> do you think a guy like chris christy would be the right guy. >> with 40 days until the eltion and a new poll showing >> with 40 days until the election and a new poll showing president obama leading mitt romneyy fiveoints, la ra ingram refused to participate in a republican battle against the polls. >> i will say that if the romney campaign's numbersere ffert alof tm udf h dre read than the polls in the swing states you would really hear a romney ryan push back against the overall numbers in those battleground states. you don't h

fatal affect on fundraising. it's interesting. politico.com had a big picture review of the romney campaign struggles. it included this piece ever since they published it. quote, to get a flavor of the chnge beforehem,ne t donor said that after mitt romney spoke at a fundraising breakfast on friday, a will-mitt win poll was taken at a table of ten men who paid to attend that fundraiser. so at their table of ten men, n?ey asked each other, will mitt of the ten men, not a single man said yes. of ten active mitt romney supporters who were actively supporting him at that ment wiheonze said he will win. and they admit to that at the fundraiser. that's not a phenomenon that can last a super long time. you don't get to sit around at $2500 a plate fundraisers tag t youy going to lose. eventually you're going to stop going to those fundraisers. you will stop throwing good money after bad. luckily for the romney campaign, there is a solution to this poteial oblethatan b caused by polling. this potential fundraising campaign death spiral. there's a way arou it. a new argument emerged about th

rate, somebody is going to produce a hologram of mitt romney calling half the country victims, in your living room. when that happens it will be posted and cataloged for posterity at our website. the three clips are posted there now if you want to check them out. maddowblog.com. >>> here it is. it's kind of heavy, but the most manipulated tax return in the history of presentation campaigns has been released. all 400 pages of it. but the ones we really want to see, the ones that could unmask mitt romney as a tax criminal, they're still secret. >> mitt romney will campaign more aggressively in battle ground states this week. >> the campaign reset for mitt romney is officially under way. >> how do you turn this thing around. >> well, it doesn't need to turn around. >> the romney ryan campaign launches a tour through ohio. >> no republican presidential candidate has been elected president without winning ohio. >> he's got to offer specification. >> i could tell them specifically what my policy looks like. >> he seems to be saying the first thing that pops into his head. >> he seems to

. . >>> romney versus ryan, the divorce. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with mr. romney's divorce. why did he pick paul ryan for his running mate? certainly not for better or worse. mitt spends his days and nights acting as if he's out there all alone, that he never hooked up with ryan in the first place. i get it. romney doesn't want to get dragged down by his political mate's push for getting rid of medicare. he acts like ryan has no hold on him, but it's not the way it works. romney has slowly gotten the word that the voter out there thought the two had things worked out, that romney and ryan were in this thing together. well, they're not. romney is dying. he can't stand being tied to ryan, and all that budget cutting baggage of his. for his part, ryan is feeling the taint of having a running mate who is unwilling to stand with him, unwilling to be his kind of politician. a conviction politician. so trouble in paradise. mitt's dying to be single again, so is ryan. we all know that politics makes strange bedfellows but the word

to see a lot of ticket splitters in the state. this is an important state for romney, it's an important state for obama, but claire has definitely got a tough race ahead of last word on the missouri senate race tonight. thanks for joining me, karen. >> thanks, lawrence. >> tomorrow night here on the last word exclusive, missouri senator claire mccaskill will be with us on that missouri senate race. "the ed show" is up next. >>> good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 43 days until the 2012 election. only nine days until the first presidential debate. mitt romney thinks it's fair to pay a smaller tax rate than americans who earn $50,000 a year? you like that? the obama campaign is hammering back. this is getting good. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> what's your big idea? >> freedom. >> now we know. mitt romney loves freedom and he loves his low tax rate. >> so you think it is fair? >> yeah, i think it's the right way to encourage economic growth. >> tonight, richard wolf on mitt romney's definition of fair and economist dean baker on ro

it's time for ""the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >>> tonight, the romney campaign which should be sinking under the weight of its own lies is actually sinking. because mitt romney t caught lline truthutowe really feels about 47% of the american people. >> president obama and i both care about t poor and middle class families. >> we have brand new polling out ismorng. tewls out today. >> three separate swing states. >> show voters trend ago way from him. >> barack obama is a little bit ahead at this time. >> because the closer we get to the election, the dumber mitt romney appears to be getting. >> there'so queion wve maou mistakes. >> time that cruel cruel mistress is slipping away. >> you may have noticed there's an election going on here in oh, i don't see a lot of victims. i see har workingohioans. >> we can't afford four more years like the last four years. >> how many times canou visit the state of ohio before they get tired of seeing you. >> the president makes his 29th trip. >> if we win ohio, we'll w this ection. >> if we winoh w w t election. >> governor romney

recently -- the first debate is wednesday night in denver. mitt romney in the mile high city tonight for a predebate rally. surrogate chris christie set expectations mile high claiming wednesday night is yet another restart of the romney campaign. >> governor romney's going to lay out his vision for a better and greater america for greater opportunity for all of our citizens and i think that's when you're going it see this race really start to tighten and then move in governor romney's direction. come thursday morning the narrative of this race is going to change. >> romney has been preparing with senator rob portman who filled in as obama during john mccain's 2008 prep. the president practicing with jor kerry playing the role of romney. kerry is a good fit since the parallels between his '04 and current one is overwhelming. can romney get the post-debate bounce kerry did in '04 and take it one step further and turn it into something kerry couldn't do eight years ago. in '04 president bush had a six-point lead before the debates but kerry's performance boosted him tying the men for the fin

work. we end this broadcast tonight not knowing where mitt romney stands on health care. that's the hitch. i'm ed shultz. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. >>> this is the logo of the china offshore oil corporation. it's kind of cool right? i like to call this cnooc. as you can tell, the logo is kind of a pick to graph ex-planing what they do. it's supposed to be an oil derrick and the c is the platform that it's sitting on. the whole thing is in blue water because they are an offshore oil company. this chinese company is a huge company. it's almost entirely owned by the chinese government. in 2005, they tried to take over an oil company based in california. so big chinese, state-run company trying to take over a california company. this is the chinese government, a big business deal like that actually does have national security implications for us as a country. that's the kind of international business deal that's subject to review by something called the committee on foreign investments in the united states. a big committee that reviews this stuff. the treasury secretary

the answer was mitt romney, he was supposed to sign them up. if not, well, then not. in virginia after the republican firm campusers were fishing for voters, one official felt compelled to remind them that you can't throw out forms because you do not like the party registration of the voter. the reason it's illegal in lots of states to pay canvassers per registration is it creates an incentive to make up fake people that register to vote so they can get paid for those registrations. it's a form of fraud and it's a bad thing, but it doesn't necessarily affect any election outcomes because those are fake people. and those fake people don't exist in the real world so they are not going to show up and vote. the actual thing is if you do get real people to fill out real forms and they therefore, believe they are registered and then because you don't like their party affiliation, you tear it up and then that real person thinks they have registered, show up on election day only to find out they are not on the rolls and not allowed to vote. after the reports in the past few days, the rep

the trail and the romney campaign is intensifying efforts in the swing states where polls show him running behind. today mitt romney will campaign in colorado and then kick off a bus tour through ohio with running mate paul ryan, trying to put a tough week behind them. >> a lot of republicans would like to know a lot of your donors would like to know how do you turn this thing around? >> well, it doesn't need a turnaround. we've got a campaign which is tied with an incumbent president of the united states. i've got a very effective campaign. it's doing a very good job. but not everything i say is elegant, and i want to make it very clear, i want to help 100% of the american people. >> in back-to-back interviews on "60 minutes," both candidates laid out their vision and admitted mistakes. romney said he spoke inelegantly. the president admitting he hadn't changed the culture in washington. >> i'm the first one to confess that the spirit that i brought to washington, that i wanted to see instituted where we weren't constantly in a political slugfest but were focused more on problem s

/quinnipiac poll, obama leads romney by ten points. down in florida, the president's lead in the poll is nine, 53-44. enupigd now, even s to be in the face of this coordinated attack from the right. with me now are mother jones bureau chief and msnbc political contributor david corn and cynthia tucker. i want to talk about theood news for the obama team right now. cynthia, why do you think -- take a minute here -- despite this ugly campaign i've just pointed out in its pattern, its thread, what they are doing to try to delegitime this president, why is he doing well in the toughest states? >> we've talked about what campaign has done wrong. we haven't spent as much time talking about the things obama has done right. obama has done a lot of things for e thing, he's just a stronger candidate. he relates to people better. he's more approachable. his favorability rates are higher, while romney has high unfavorability ratings. but obama actually has a set of principles he believesn. so, he has a message that he carries out on the campaign trail over and over again. mitt romney doesn't appear

romney says. >> any great stories from '96 debate prep with clinton? >> do i have any great stories? i think debrat prep is like vegas. what happens there stays there. sorry. >> jonathan, i have to ask you. there was a famous story. the dole people thought they had this great trick they were going to pull on you guys, that first debate in 1996 where clinton had fired the white house travel logs in 1993 and emerged this big scandal. >> i was there for that, too. >> what did the dole people try to do to you guys to throw clinton off his game? >> you're not supposed to do this on live tv, but i do not remember. >> they put the guy in the front row who had run the white house travel office at the debate because they thought clinton was going to look at him and it was going to knock him off his game and stride. of course, the reality was clinton didn't know what the guy looked like. >> you're right. one thing clinton is so good at is the audience. it doesn't matter who is out there and no matter how hostile it appears to them. whoever is out there, your job is to win them over and ask them.

romney. if he exploits the debates to his favor and increases his standard beyond that of obama, he will fit right in. the bad news, romney has to beat obama to do it. and what a big night for politics, history and our bloled country. that's "hardball" for now. "the ed show" starts right now. >>> good evening, america. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 43 days until the 2012 election. only nine days until the first presidential debate. mitt romney thinks it's fair to pay a smaller tax rate than americans who earn $50,000 a year? you like that? this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> what's your big idea? >> freedom. >> now we know. mitt romney loves freedom and he loves his low tax rate. >> you think it is fair? >> yeah, i think it's the right way to encourage economic growth. >> tonight, richard wolf on mitt romn romney's definition of fair and dean baker on romney's ability to game the tax code with chinese investments. >> my expectation would be in the crunch in october, governor romney is going to be for todd aiken. >> republicans turn to newt gingrich to try to save

pointing fingers openly questioning governor romney's strategy. that is bringing him to pennsylvania at this very hour. that's a state where he was down by 12 points according to a poll from quinnipiac university. other polls out show president obama and romney locked in a tight fight. according to the nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll, president obama has a slight lead in nevada and north carolina but basically within the margin of error. and in virginia, a new poll from suffolk university/nbc 12 puts obama slightly ahead of romney, also within the margin of error. so, how can romney turn it around? it may not be easy. some people within this romney campaign have concluded he's not actually a very good politician. here's what one romney official explained to politico. he said -- now romney's former rival newt gingrich doesn't go quite that far, but he says that romney needs to reform his thinking. >> i think they're only now beginning to come to grips with the general election. they had a very -- >> scary -- >> they had a very successful primary strategy. in a

i.d., which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. >> sorry. it's not done. not anymore. not on our watch. not when we have our say. folks, the fight is far from over. under this ruling, the law's merely been delayed. not dismantled. across the country, republicans are fighting to keep their laws on the books. and they're dreaming up new ways to cheat the system. we've told you about the voter fraud scandal surrounding gop operative nathan sprool. now the investigation is taking the federal level with judge cunningham demanding answers about phoney addresses, even dead people registered as republican voters. meantime, millions of americans are already voting. today in ohio, polling stations were busy with the state's first day of early voting. people actually slept overnight in tents so they could be the first in line to vote. and today the first lady was in ohio, urging people to get out to the polls. >> here in ohio, it is already election day. already election day. early voting starts today, today! i know that after this event, we've got a big gr

secrets of mitt romney. governor romney's release of her 201 # 2011 returns have raised more questions to his murky financials and now he's got a paul ryan problem. the 2010 remarks paul ryan made says that one of the main investments mitt romney has is a way to, quote, hide money. >> we don't want to have a situation where we're penalizing businesses for keeping their money, their capital, and their headquarters and their manufacturing facilities in america. so rather than having ireland and the cayman islands be the place where you hide your money, why don't we make it america? >> the place you hide money? don't believe your ears? let's play it again, sam. >> so rather than having ireland and the cayman islands be the place you hide your money, the place you hide your money, the place you hide your money -- >> so even paul ryan, his own running mate, says using the investment vehicles romney uses is a way to hide his money, as in hide it from tax laws. ryan shows why this issue won't go away for romney. the returns tell the tale of a man who's made nearly a quarter of his income last ye

mitt romney. we've felt the swerves, the sudden shifts, the abrupt stops and reverses, the reckless changes of lan, the slipping and the sliding. thers more road ahead, of courincluding three debates, bu'rgetta e goe kexy ere he's going or even on how to drive this car. and the big question is, why is he having such a tough time? why does he seem, dare we say it, confused? could it be because he doesn't know where he's trying to take us? because he doesn't know where he wants to go? as david axelrod said, cpaigns are like an mri for the soul, oever you e, eventually led joining me now are the two men who wrote the book that resulted in a sweep of four emmys this week, "game change" authors john heilemann of "new york magazine" and mark halperin of "time." gentlemen, thank you for joining us. righnow ver mi ro'slio e t been more on display than yesterday. it involved health care reform, the issue he can't decide whether to run from ormbrace, so he did both in the same day. in an interview with nbc's ron allen, romney said his health care plan up in massachutts, deled after, shows his

romney in national poles. nate silver's prediction model put barack obama's odds of winning the election above 80% for the first time ever. swing state polling just this week seems to confirm the trend. a new quinnipiac "new york times" cbs poll shows surprisingly strong leads for the president. the galup tracking poll shows obama up six points. it's pretty hard to survey the polling data and not come to the conclusion that barack obama is beating mitt romney, that if the election were held today barack obama would win and that romney has a relatively steep though certainly not insurmountable uphill climb to victory. that is if you operate in the alternate epi stem mick universe of the media. >> that begs the question, are these polls dishonest? >> no. look, we endo you them with a falls scientific precision. >> these polls, i don't pay attention to them. >> polling is very good at saying how you're going to vote. it's very bad at saying who's going to vote. >> these two polls today are designed to convince everybody this election is over. >> we should note that fox news's own p

. today while he still didot go there directly, at least, at last, finally, today mitt romney got close to the subject. >> we haveuge numbers of men and women that are returning from conflict that are seeking counseling, psychological counseling, and can't find that counseling within our system. and, of course, record numbers of suicides. this is a crisis. >> that was mittomney speaking toy ininldrg, herile. and, no, he is still not apparently able to say anything about the war directly, but at least today where you saw him there, he did mention that this war has oduced an outcome of war. which is american war vetens. neither the war nor its vetens weened ce, . roey'speech to the nation upon becoming his party's nominee for president. he's trying to fix the veterans part of that oversight. he really as a candidate still seems incapable of talking about the war he would be taking ove as cmander in chief. there were these dueng appeance vnibefo lita hea audiences in that military heavy state. president obama talking about ending the war in iraq, talking about his strategy in afghani

, mitt romney and barack obama are holed up in last-minute debate prep for tomorrow night's main event. speaking to a volunteer nevada yaeds, president obama made it sound like a college cram session minus the no doze and pizza. >> basically they're keeping me indoors all the time. it's a drag. they're making me do my homework. >> governor romney, however, may have twice the work load. he'll have two opponents on stage tomorrow, president obama and himself. eugene robinson write in "the washington post" -- it prompts to be an epic clash. mitt romney versus mitt romney. oh. and president obama will be there too. this conundrum of what we'll call the paradox of the mittens, dates back to 1994 when senator ted kennedy dropped this debate heat rock. >> on the question of the choice issue, i have supported the row v raid wade, i am pro choice, my opponent is multiple choice. >> so which bubble will the multiple choice candidate fill in on tomorrow night's test? which mitt will triumph on stage. even members of the conservative establishment aren't sure. bill o'reilly conceded mitt romney is

today a cross-country journey for jobs under the radar. de aak joing the uryan romney ticket. it's wednesday, september 26th an you're in "the cycle." >>anak t world stage at the united nations as mahmoud ahmadinejad delivers one of the least fiery stages ever. ahmadinejad shied away from the usual saber rattling. we didn't hear about israel being wiped off the map like he said in 2005 or even earlier thiseek sayinghat ilad no roots in the middle east. after eight years in power, he is a lame duck president. the influence is dwindling at home after parliamentary losses. protesters are constantly folling ahmanejad and the maeou o40 people around the u.n. here in new york. inside the u.s. delegation boycotted the speech. the president said the timeline is not unlimited and israeli prime minister netyahu claims iran istthaym a nuclear bomb. others suggest iran is not even close. show of strength, the military unveiled a new drone this week which they claim can reach israeli and u.s. bases in the region. the u.s. warnedn the pt t loal o war benefits iran driving up oil prices and criti

republican opponent, mr. romney, who has generally ne his best to avoid the hao ct whe . credit's due. today while he still did not go there directly, at least, at last, finally, today mitt romney got close to the subject. >> we have huge numbers of our men and women that are returning from conflict that are seeking counseling, psychological counseling, and can't find tt se wn sy. and, of course, record numbers of suicides. this is a crisis. >> that was mitt romney speaking today in springfield, virginia, to the american legion. and, no, he is still not apparently able to say anything about the war directly, but at least today where u sahi th hd ioats war has produced an outcome of war. which is american war veterans. neither the war nor its veterans were mentioned, of course, in mr. romney's speech to the nation upon becoming his party's nominee for president. he's trying to fix the veterans part othat oversight. emcae al aas cdidate still the war he would be taking over as commander in chief. there were these dueling appearances in virginia before military heavy audiences in that mi

drag. they're making me do my homework. >> mitt romney rallied in a crowd in denver. even though he's been practicing zingers, he tried to play down the need for a victory. >> people want to know who is going to win, who is going to score the punches and who is going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make and there's going to be all the scoring of winning and losing. in my view it's not the winning and losing, the people themselves, it's something bigger than that. these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward for america we would choose. >> i want to bring in john harwood and e.j. deion, author of "our divided political heart." thank you for coming on. we've been hearing this expectation game being played, the other side trying to make the other one seem as if they are the greatest debater who ever lived. let's start with a reality check and strength and weaknesses of these candidates. let's start with president obama. what is the strength in this debate? >> he's very well informed. he is a fluid speaker. he has served as president

. we're in a general election, and we have governor romney attempting to use the president's words against him regarding israel. i think its important to note thatennethuai under the obama administration these strict sanctions were pult into place, and they have worked. praising, if you will, the obama administration. with all of that said, his speech boiled down to, there's an imminent threat. he compared it to the holocaust well,nd hels tt action must be taken within the next year it sounds. >> yeah. it will be interesting to see in the text day or two how the obama administration responds. we knew this red line speech was comi. wenew that the obama administration and netanyahu ecallyidee necessarily on the future actions to take. it's been abundantly clear obama has not appreciated having his hand forced by netanyahu. netanyahu has absolutely realized that this is an election season, has been accused probably rightly so of putingertaints u.s. election system to what he perceives to be his benefit. now that we know what the netanyahu red line is, it will be interesting to se how

nbc and "wall street journal" that show a tight race between the president and mitt romney. and we're looking through the eyes of the "saturday night live" crew. a special campaign edition later on in the show. first, let us get to the news live here at 5:30 a.m. at 30 rock in the center of new york city. we do begin with new developments out of libya. the a.p. reporting the u.s. state department is pulling more staffers out of its embassy in the capital of tripoli over security fears. the move is expected to be temporary until the security situation improves. the embassy was already operating with limited staff following the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi that left four americans dead. it is now been 17 days since that attack. sources say fbi agents sent to investigate the murders still have not been able to visit the actual scene of the crime due to security concerns. secretary of defense leon panetta yesterday said there was no doubt terrorists were responsible. >> as we determined the details of what took place there and how that attack took place that it became c

. >> and he touched down in ohio. >> ohio. >> ohio. >> ohio. >> romney, ryan, romney ryan. >> there we go, all right. >> does he have any. i come back to number thr. >>ne aik. >> if we don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and he'll lose. >> it is a big day in the big apple. >> president obama is in new york right now. >> america wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy. >> there was president obama giving a speech. >> icceppe aoio mfuinveay. >> then there s mi rney. >> the few words from bill clinton can do a man a lot of good. >> if he's going to double down on that 47, that will cause difficules. >> wait a couple of days for er spot. ne. >> i can appreciate your kind words. >> when i was a boy i used to think that becoming rich and becoming famous would make me happy. boy, was iight. >> yeah, he said that. with just 42 days until the presidential election and with a new poll showing mitt romney's path to the presidency raply narrowing, paul ryan is radly reizthe el h way to becomg the next losing vice president candidate. so he is desperately trying to avoid t

solid performance at the denver debate help mitt romney change the perceptions and boost his poll numbers? >>> and the expectations game isn't slowing down one bit. both sides say the other side was one of the most gifted debate performers in the history of mankind. so if they're both right, then this should be a heck of a night on wednesday, shouldn't they? lincoln douglas, watch out. >>> plus at the brink, a special nbc news report from all across the middle east, afghanistan, iran, syria, as multiple situations grow more dangerous da, what challenges face this president and whoever takes office in january? >>> good morning from washington. it's monday, october 1st, 2012. this is the daily rundown. i'm chuck todd. one more rundown. let's get to the rundown. mitt romney need as great october to change the course of this campaign. for your him it had to begin wednesday night in denver. romney had just a rough three weeks. he's had a rough three months. you could argue that romney hasn't, quote, won a month in this campaign since may or june. a trailing campaign has just a handful

romney z nemesis. >> we areunniutti >> people don't trust him. >> how does he turn this thing around? >> mitt romney has campaigned as many things this election cycle. >> a severely conservative morning ya' ll. >> human pretzel. >> i repeal obamacare. >> don't forget iot everyone in my state insured. >> 100% of kids inyta insured. >> 40 days to election. >> and he's using this as a dge of hon othohonor. >> this guy is like a bobb bobblehead. >> did the rublicans nominate the wng y? >> do you think a guy like chris christy would be the right guy. >> with 40 days until the election and a new pol showing president obama leading mitt romney by five points, la ra ingram refused to participate in a republican battle against t polls. >> wsaatfhe romney campaign's numbers were different all of them fox included if they had a different read than the polls in the swing states you would really hear a roey ryan phacin the overall numbers in those battleground states. you don't hear that. i don't think they are happy about it. but i think they believe they are running behind and you are seeing so

presidential campai. it's now looming even larger for mitt romney. because threnew polls t today show pollsters pulling away from him. the new quinnipiac lead gives obama a ten-point ad in ohio, nine points in florida, whopping 12 points in pennsylvania. this is aew cnbc pollha shows president obama nine points u on romney when it comes to who would do a better job on the economy. good to see you. >> great to be here. >> we suld say the polls were done at a time when the % mm by mitt romney was getting a lot of publicity, his tax returns wut o there. let me play for you what was said when i asked what do you make of the polls. >> they're overpolling democrats to ph the pdent ers. >> is this what the romney camp really believes, matt? is it correct? >> you know, think ear going to grasp at any straw that they can. it's a problemf what happens ecliante in the an primary season, right? he looks nice. you can take him home to mom. . and then you have to transfer to a general election. you have t try toavoid saying anything to make a case for yourself and those are two different ings

me start with the many secrets of mitt romney. he wants to be president, he'll tell us that, but why? besides the office that is, besides the honor his father missed, besides the notion of being america's top winner that is. why does he want to be president? to go to war with iran? waging a new war in the middle east while escalating two others? to do it without telling us when or how he's going to end it or, for that matter, those two. to finance a big across the board tax cut but not tell us how. not what big across the board deductions he'll deny people in order to pay for it or even what taxes he's been paying himself over the years. or how he'll finance all those popular things in the president's health care plan once he kills the plan itself. lots of secrets. secrets because he himself has no earthly idea what the answers are. i'm joined by democratic strategist bob shrum and salon's joan walsh. first, however, we have two new national polls on the presidential race. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. according to a new "washington post"/abc news poll, president obama h